Play Meter

'Our o'wn popularity has hung us ... '
- California operator
Restrictions tighten on arcades
in Los Angeles area
Southern California cities at late
summer 1981 were weighing the
passage of ordi n ances wi t h
increasingly complex and rest rictive
regulation s o n amusement game
ar cad es. Municipalities including
those in L os Angeles and Orange
counties adopted measures such as
that of the city of Los Angeles,
classifying a location with five or
more game machines as an arcade
and r equ irin g co nditional -u se
permits from a zoning authority.
Why arcades? And why now?
That seemed to be answerable by
the growing popularity o f electronic
amusements - w hic h were being
resisted by parents who argued that
the machines eat up all their
c hildren's spare quarters. City
officials linked congregating kids
with the undesired effects of crowd
noise, drug and alcohol abuse, and
the general nuisance of " hoods."
Not unlike o ther localities, the L o s
Angeles City Council in its proposed
zo ning o rdin ance had lumped
together the game arcades wit h
massage parlors, bathhouses, dance
hall s, and sex u al e n co unt e r
establishments. When coin opera-
tors an d mach i ne distributor s
objected, the council in August
adopted two ordin ances - one to
cover arcades, the second for the
other establishments.
Among the cities deciding r ecen tly
to tighten restrictions on game
machine arcades w as Anaheim ,
California. The tighten -up came after
game license applications began
coming i n " fast and furi ous,"
Councilwoman M iriam Kaywood
was quoted in the Los Angeles
Times.
That flurry of new games rooms
had irritated citizen s w ho were
" irrational ," she said, in their being
"fear ful of groups of young people."
A naheim's city p lanning staff then
studied similar-sized cities in its area
and found Anaheim was "just about
the most lenient" toward arcades.
Some, such as Burbank and
Glendale, h ad declared moratoriums
to temporarily prohibit new openings
until o rdinances could be passed to
regulate them.
T h e Ana h e i m co unc il o pted
instead to req uire a survey of all
residents and businesses within a
300-foot radius of any proposed
game room w it h more th an four
machines. If less than half the
respondents opposed the ar cade, it
could be licensed after a routine
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th e Co tn Ope rated Amu se ment Mac hin e Industry
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Anti-Stri ng Kits
Strin g Cutte rs
Ron Ro llin s
Fra n k Sch u be rt
police check, as was done before. If
more than half the nearby citizens
and businesses did oppose the game
room, the license would be denied,
with the applicant able to appeal this
to counciL
Th e city co uncil unanimously
agreed on this approach, with M ayor
John Seymour quoted as saying he is
concerned about increasing gov-
e r nm e nt r egulati ons-but the
game room situation as seen by
citizens and o fficials seemed to
demand action , he said.
Why the city should be any less
" lenient" than in the past was
perhaps sum mar ized best by
Councilwoman Kaywood, who told a
repor ter that well -managed es-
tablishments are "a nice plus" for the
city; the biggest problem she saw
was with p oorly managed units in
small , n e i g hbor h ood s hopping
centers.
In Los Angeles-where former
Governor Edmund G . " Pat" Brown
as well as o perators in the coin
industry had attempted to gain a
d elay-the city council voted for a
$1,500 fee and a three-to-four
months waiting period before arcade
owne r s ca n begi n o p e rat i ng
proposed arcades.
One L os Angeles councilman was
quoted as desc ri bing the city
ordinance as "just catching up with
ever ybody else."
Arcade applicants will have to pay
a non-refundable $900 fee for a
conditional-use permit an d about
$250 additionaly for an "enviro-
men tal review." Notices are also sent
to residents within 300 feet of the
proposed arcade (as in the Anaheim
procedure) for a zoning hearing to
follow for the arcad e.
An industry representative had
argued before co uncil th at it would
cost "valuable city resources" fo r the
zoning hearing procedure, rather
than a standard police check.
H eard louder, apparently, were
co mmunity spokesmen from
westside L os Ang e l es, who
c ontended t h a t ar c ade s draw
"juveniles who drink, smoke, and
wr eak havoc o n nearby business."
- by Ray E. Tilley
12
PLAY METER, November 1, 1981